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JAKIM, PAS, and Najib’s UMNO: They make us sick

JAKIM, PAS, and Najib’s UMNO: They make us sick

by Farouk A. Peru

There was a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read reports of the Brussels attacks. In 2013, I was feeling quite buoyant after a jog when the 6 o’clock news announced the shocking report of the Woolwich attacks.

Even though there was only one casualty, that attack was particularly vicious and the murderer actually spoke to a camera justifying his evil. That made me sick to my stomach. Naturally, the backlash against the Muslim community was brutal and severe.

The terror attacks in Brussels which have so far left 31 dead and scores more injured were not even confirmed as Jihadi attacks when I detected Islamophobic remarks on social media.

The world is already attuned to that mode of thinking. After all, Turkey suffered attacks only last week by what officials claimed to be ISIS. Who are these ISIS people? Does it even matter? We now have an “admission” from ISIS, behind the curtain of obfuscation and really, that’s all that’s needed.

The fact that they are claiming to be Islamic is already enough for Islamophobes to make Islam culpable and thus incriminate Muslims. In this climate of suspicion, even people who look like Muslims (read: racial features) have already been attacked!

No Change when we have idiots in Malaysia

I believe in being proactive though. Muslims are in the best position to prevent these attacks from happening simply because these terrorists are hiding in our midst. They could be our friends and family who have been radicalised or some mysterious stranger who suddenly appeared recently.

Whoever they are, we will encounter them more than any other people. After all, Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect of the Paris attacks late last year, hid for four months in his old hometown without being detected. He must have had some help. Hence, we are in the best position to recognise and prevent them from carrying out their heinous activities. The question is how?

The first thing I would recommend is keeping one’s eyes and ears open. Watch out for suspicious activities. Terrorist attacks, at least ones which meet their goals, are not the result of the lack of planning and haphazard execution. Much time and effort will need to be invested.

This is how we can detect the possibility of these attacks. In the movie Four Lions which satirises Islamic terrorism, the lead terrorist Omar had to go for training in Pakistan before he could be “authorised” for such an attack. Such an absence would be very obvious to those close to him.

This brings us to the next point ― recruitment. Thanks to the dark, shadowy anonymity of the internet, ISIS recruiters have managed to succeed in gaining recruits using social media. Reports have said that they even use attractive operatives to lure Muslims of the opposite sex through promises of marriage!

Of course, they also do so through direct propaganda. Malaysian ISIS recruiters probably also use the same method. One can easily find profiles in social media which echo ISIS sentiments. They may be fake ones, simply pranksters wasting people’s time or they may actually be ISIS recruiters.

In any case, I advise Muslims to block these profiles straight away. Deny the troll his oxygen and he will be done.

A Message from Mr. Trump–This is not the solution either

My final point is the prerequisite to making the first two points justifiable ― ideology. In my observation, Muslims are ill-equipped to handle ISIS rhetoric. This is because of two things. One, our traditional education system is not of a dialectical model. It shies away from dialogue and even attempts to repress it. JAKIM is a clear example of this policy. So when ISIS tells Muslims that Islam demands they join the Islamic State, they are unable to answer.

Secondly, conservative traditional Islam is still not willing to reform its tradition. Although we will find dozens of Muslims scholars and luminaries loudly condemning ISIS time and again, none of them will actually step up and reform the Islamic tradition.

The tradition has many narrations and interpretations of the Quran which echo the sentiments of ISIS. Unless these books are edited, Muslims will continue to be held hostage by them and worse still, think the Quran actually teaches this evil. The soul of our faith is at stake here.

To me, the greatest solution to these attacks and Islamophobia lies in social activism. A group of Muslims here in London aptly named the Children of Adam feed the homeless every Sunday. In doing so, they are simultaneous fulfilling the key tenet of Islam as well as showing the world what we’re really about.

The problem is, their numbers are about one hundredth of a typical Friday congregation. We do have a long way to go.

9 thoughts on “JAKIM, PAS, and Najib’s UMNO: They make us sick”

Here is the thing, if Jakim, Hadi’s PAS and Najib’s UMNO makes Malay Muslim sick, and they do it since birth, are the Islamaphobes all wrong? He calls it “ill- equipped” but in practical terms, the Islamaphobe are not completely baseless.
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This twitter idiot won’t resign. He wants to keep his job and hang on to the power of his post. There is no sense of public accountability. Just look at Khairy Jamaluddin, Paul Low, Hishamuddin Hussein Onn (over Lahad Datu), and even Najib (in his case, it is Rosmah who wants him to keep his job). They all do not want to be like Mahathir who resigned his post to Badawi.–Din

Najib already praised the ISIS monkeys ( apologies to our cousins), so can we say we have detected a potential terrorist on our hands? How now to stop him?
But i do say we have to take our kopiahs off to him. He is able to use arab money kindly donated to him to terrorise the little people of bolehland that he so benevolently rules. You know, 1brim for you, 1billion dollars for Ali Baba. And a birkin or twelve for the camel.

Also, we have wrestling programs from WWF to Smack Down! to SLAM! etc on RTM, on TV3 and on some Astro channels almost on a nightly basis and that kind of boost up the righteousness of violence and use of force especially amongst the young villagers who only know how to use violence to settle disputes but cannot debate or have a sensible discussion / discourse. Look at that idiot Red Shirt fella selling ikan bakar! Look at that UMNO Youth chief from Federal Territory who had resorted to threats of violence including burning down DAP headquarters!

Even UMNO Wanita Chief Shahrizat Jalil folded up her sleeves when she was challenged with a question on the RM250 mil soft loan given for rearing cows…

Its time this country tone down violence… especially amongst the rural youth!

Quote:- “The tradition has many narrations and interpretations of the Quran which echo the sentiments of ISIS. Unless these books are edited, Muslims will continue to be held hostage by them and worse still, think the Quran actually teaches this evil. The soul of our faith is at stake here”

What, re-write the Quran, the Divine Word of God?

If it’s just a question of bad interpretation, then stop all interpretation altogether. Why should the Divine Everlasting Word of God needs any interpretation at all? Unless you are saying that even Almighty God Himself couldn’t make Himself clear enough?

There is another danger i.e. “lone wolf” attacks by self-radicalised religious extremists. Parents, relatives, close friends need to monitor those individuals who appear to be undergoing a process of self-radicalisation.

I am not a Muslim but some of my relatives are. My Muslim relatives themselves do not condone ISIS or any of these terrorist attack but like me, they are sympathetic toward the Muslim struggle particularly in the middle east. Personally, religion is personal and its between oneself and God. Its like different lamps providing the same light. Its man’s hands that has smeared God’s light….